Ex Parte Zhao et alDownload PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardMar 29, 201912674755 - (D) (P.T.A.B. Mar. 29, 2019) Copy Citation UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 12/674,755 01/14/2011 48116 7590 FAY SHARPE/NOKIA 1228 Euclid Avenue, 5th Floor The Halle Building Cleveland, OH 44115-1843 04/02/2019 FIRST NAMED INVENTOR Yan Zhao UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www .uspto.gov ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. LUTZ 201117US01 9100 EXAMINER HOUSHMAND, HOOMAN ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2465 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 04/02/2019 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address(es): docketing@faysharpe.com Nokia.IPR@nokia.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED ST ATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte YAN ZHAO, TAO YANG, and JIN LIU Appeal2018-006446 Application 12/674, 755 1 Technology Center 2400 Before MARC S. HOFF, MATTHEW J. McNEILL, and SCOTT E. BAIN, Administrative Patent Judges. HOFF, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE Appellants appeal under35 U.S.C. § 134 from a fmal rejection of claims 1, 2, 4, and 6-12. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S. C. § 6(b ). We affrrm-in-part. Appellants' invention is a method for scheduling resources in a packet network. Communication between user equipment comprises "talkspurt" periods during which data packets are transmitted and silent periods during which silence descriptor packets are transmitted. A network element allocates resources for the user equipment for the communication. The 1 Appellants state the real party in interest is Alcatel Lucent. App. Br. 1. Appeal2018-006446 Application 12/674, 755 user element stops using the allocated resource, and the network element releases the allocated resources when the silence descriptor packet is detected. Spec. 3--4. Claim 1 is exemplary of the claims on appeal: 1. A method for scheduling at least one resource in a packet network, the at least one resource being allocated by a network element, the method comprising: allocating the at least one resource for one or more user equipments for communication, said communication comprising talk-spurt periods during which data packets are detected and silent periods during which silence descriptor packets are detected; detecting at the network element and at at [sic] least one user equipment the presence of a received silence descriptor packet; wherein the user equipment stops using, and the network element releases, the at least one allocated resource when said silence descriptor packet is detected; starting a timing interval upon detection of said silence descriptor packet, wherein said network element determines the end of the interval by timing; allocating at least one new resource to the at least one user equipment when said interval ends or when a request for allocating a new resource is received by the network element before the end of said interval; and reallocating the at least one released resource to at least one other user equipment upon receipt of a request from the at least one other user equipment. The Examiner relies upon the following prior art in rejecting the claims on appeal: Zhang Kim Cai US 2007/0025357 Al US 2008/0084851 Al US 2008/0267118 Al 2 Feb 1, 2007 Apr. 10, 2008 Oct. 30, 2008 Appeal2018-006446 Application 12/674, 755 Claims 1, 2, and 4 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Kim, Zhang, and Cai. Claims 6-12 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Kim and Zhang. Throughout this decision, we make reference to the Appeal Brief ("App. Br.," filed Dec. 26, 2017), the Reply Brief ("Reply Br.," filed June 4, 2018), and the Examiner's Answer ("Ans.," mailed Apr. 2, 2018) for their respective details. ISSUES Appellants' arguments present us with the following issues: 1. Does the combination of Kim and Zhang, with or without Cai, disclose or suggest that user equipment stops using, and the network element releases, at least one allocated resource when a silence descriptor packet is detected? 2. Does the combination of Kim and Zhang disclose or suggest that the user equipment stops using the allocated resource upon detection of the silence descriptor packet? ANALYSIS CLAIMS 1, 2, AND 4 Independent claim 1 recites that "the user equipment stops using, and the network element releases, the at least one allocated resource when said silence descriptor packet is detected." The Examiner fmds that Kim discloses a network element releasing allocated resources when the silence descriptor packet is detected. Ans. 3. 3 Appeal2018-006446 Application 12/674, 755 According to the Examiner, Kim discloses that the network element ("Evolved Node B," or "ENB")transmits an SID packet using the downlink persistent transmission resources allocated for the talkspurt period state, thereby implicitly indicating the released state of the downlink persistent transmission resources for the talkspurtperiod state. Ans. 3; Kim ,r 152. We do not agree with the Examiner's fmding. The Examiner relies on paragraphs 150, 152, and 166 of Kim for support. See Ans. 7-9. Paragraphs 150 and 152 form part of the disclosure ofKim's fourth embodiment; paragraph 166 forms part of the disclosure of Kim's sixth embodiment. Kim discloses that "[t]he fourth embodiment of the present invention provides a scheme of allowing a UE to release persistent transmission resources allocated for a corresponding state after transmitting state transition indication." Kim ,r 13 7. Kim further discloses that "[ i]n the sixth embodiment of the present invention, a UE monitors a size of a packet with an uncompressed header, and spontaneously releases the persistent transmission resources allocated for the talkspurt period state if there is a state transition from the talkspurt period state to the silent period state." Id. ,r 163. We do not agree with the Examiner's fmding that " [ t ]he network element releases the at least one allocated resource is mapped to ( the ENB indicating the released state of the resources)." Ans. 8; Kim ,r 152. We agree with Appellants' argument that an indication that resources have been released is not equivalent to a disclosure that a certain entity affrrmatively releases resources. Reply Br. 3. Rather, As explained supra, we rely upon Kim's explicit disclosure within the same embodiment that the user equipment UE is the entity that releases the allocated resources. Kim ,r 13 7. 4 Appeal2018-006446 Application 12/674, 755 The Examiner further finds that Kim's disclosure that "the persistent transmission resources for the state x are no longer available" means that "the ENB has already released the resources." Ans. 10; Kim ,r 150. In the absence of an explicit disclosure that the ENB in Kim is the entity that releases resources, we do not agree with the Examiner's fmding. The Examiner suggests that Appellants concede in the Appeal Brief that Cai discloses a network element that releases resources. Ans. 10-11; Cai ,r 61. The Examiner does not accurately characterize Appellants' position. Appellants argue that Cai relates "to an uplink scenario wherein the wireless terminal detects the imminent transition based on its buffer status and provides an indication to the network of the impending transition to the silence state," whereas "Kim relates to a downlink scenario in which the eNB uses an uncompressed packet header to indicate to the UE that a silent state is imminent." Reply Br. 5---6. "In Kim, the UE releases the allocated resources in response to the detected uncompressed header." Reply Br. 6. The Examiner has made no response to Appellants' arguments that Cai' s uplink scenario is not compatible with Kim's downlink scenario, or that the proposed combination would not work as intended. App. Br. 8. We conclude that the Examiner erred in rejecting claims 1, 2, and 4 over the combination of Kim, Zhang, and Cai. We do not sustain the Examiner's § 103 (a) rejection. CLAIMS 6-9 The Examiner fmds with respect to independent claim 6, as with independent claim 1, that Kim discloses the element "the network element releases the at least one resource upon detection of the silence descriptor packet." Ans. 14; Kim ,r 152. 5 Appeal2018-006446 Application 12/674, 755 We do not agree with the Examiner, for the same reasons expressed supra. Kim's disclosure that "the UE no longer uses the persistent transmission resources, considering that the persistent transmission resources for the state x are no longer available," does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that "the ENB has already released the resources." Ans. 15. As discussed supra, Kim explicitly discloses, with regard to its fourth embodiment, that the UE "release[ s] persistent transmission resources allocated for a corresponding state after transmitting state transition indication." Kim ,r 13 7. We conclude that the Examiner erred in rejecting claims 6-9 under § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Kim and Zhang. We do not sustain the Examiner's rejection. CLAIMS 10-12 Appellants argue that Kim fails to disclose "wherein the user equipment stops using the allocated resource upon detection of the silence descriptor packet," as claim 10 requires. App. Br. 10. Appellants contend that Figure 3 of Kim, relied upon by the Examiner, does not support a fmding that Kim discloses the argued limitation. Id. Notwithstanding any deficiencies in the description of Figure 3, however, Kim discloses that " [ i] fit is determined in step 113 0 that there are persistent transmission resources allocated for the state x, the UE proceeds to step 1140 where the UE releases the persistent transmission resources for the statex." Kim then further discloses that, "[fJor example, the UE no longer uses the persistent transmission resources, considering that the persistent transmission resources for the state x are no longer available." Kim ,r 150 ( emphasis added). 6 Appeal2018-006446 Application 12/674, 755 Given this explicit teaching, we agree with the Examiner that Kim discloses user equipment that stops using allocated resources, as claimed. We are not persuaded that the Examiner erred in rejecting claims 10-12 over Kim and Zhang. We sustain the§ 103(a) rejection of these claims. CONCLUSIONS 1. The combination of Kim and Zhang, with or without Cai, does not disclose or suggest that user equipment stops using, and the network element releases, at least one allocated resource when a silence descriptor packet is detected. 2. The combination of Kim and Zhang discloses that the user equipment stops using the allocated resource upon detection of the silence descriptor packet. ORDER The Examiner's decision to reject claims 10-12 is affrrmed. The Examiner's decision to reject claims 1, 2, 4, and 6-9 is reversed. No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a). AFFIRMED-IN-PART 7 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation